


My heart is a fragile thing to aim at

by Rosaliss



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, M/M, Motorcycles, Pre-Relationship, Summer, Weird Courtship Rituals, painful flirting, these two could just talk it out but nooo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26300644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosaliss/pseuds/Rosaliss
Summary: Sirius was leaning arms crossed against his motorcycle, which was as always perfectly polished, and he was wearing his stupid signature leather jacket even with the sun shining bright and hot in the sky. Remus scoffed at the sight: he was wearing only a light t-shirt and still sweating like a pig.“What do you want, Black?”“To say hi, that’s all."---Or: Sirius has a motorcycle, Remus is putting up walls, and they're both bad at flirting.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	My heart is a fragile thing to aim at

**Author's Note:**

> I want to say thank you to my friend [Nieri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nieri_is_a_cat) for reading this fic and giving me feedback: you're amazing!  
> Also, English isn't my (or Nieri's, for that matter) first language, so let me know if you find any mistakes. Enjoy!

“Hey, Lupin!”

Remus raised his head. It was a mere blind instinct, he already knew who was calling him, he’d recognise that voice everywhere, and he didn’t want to stop and talk to him. He didn’t even want him to know that he’d heard him, but it was too late for that. He raised his head, grimaced, and gave a tiny nod to the boy. He turned around, resolved to go on his way, but he called him again.

“Remus Lupin!”

Remus sighed and turned around. “Sirius Black,” he said with the most uninterested tone he could muster.

Sirius didn’t notice, though, or pretended not to, and smirked at him. He was leaning arms crossed against his motorcycle, which was as always perfectly polished, and he was wearing his stupid signature leather jacket even with the sun shining bright and hot in the sky. Remus scoffed at the sight: he was wearing only a light t-shirt and still sweating like a pig.

“What do you want, Black?”

“To say hi, that’s all. My mother might be a monster, but she did teach me some manners, you know.”

“Well, hi,” said Remus. “I guess we’re done now.”

“Oh, come on now, Lupin! You’re breaking my heart!”

“I thought you didn’t have one. The great Sirius Black, heir of the richest and oldest family in the region, fearless member of the most dangerous gang in town! Ridiculous jacket and all. So tough, so cold,” Remus said mockingly. He tried to put a hand on his heart to maximise the dramatic effect, which nearly resulted in the books he was carrying falling from his arms. He readjusted the grip on them and hoped that Sirius hadn’t noticed. “An unstoppable force.”

“Ah, but that’s just a facade I put on for the masses. You should be more careful where you get your information from.” He stopped for a second. “Well, except the tough part, that one’s true. Also, I’m the gang’s fearless _leader_.”

“I thought that was James.”

“ _James?_ For real, Lupin, where do you get your information from?”

“To be honest, I’m more surprised that you didn’t say anything about my jacket comment.”

Sirius smiled. “That’s because we both know that you were lying.”

Remus gave a look around. There was no one else in the small square, not that it was a surprise. Apparently, the rest of the village was smart enough to stay inside during the hottest hours of the hottest month of the year, unlike Sirius and him. The only weird thing about that was the absence of Sirius’s friends. Remus couldn’t remember the last time he’d been alone with Sirius, if there ever had been one.

“Alone today, are you? Where’s the rest of your little gang?”

“Secret business,” Sirius said, with that specific expression on his face he always had when he wanted to rile Remus up, or encourage him to inquire further. Remus didn’t want to give in to him, though, so he simply didn’t say anything.

It only took a few seconds for Sirius to break. “Peter had to help his parents with I don’t know what and James is with Lily.”

Remus smiled. It was too easy with Sirius. “I take it he’s making progress with her?”

Sirius scoffed. “I wouldn’t call it ‘progress’. Miracle, more like it. For some reason I can’t understand, she’s totally smitten.”

“He’s your best friend, shouldn’t you be on his side on this one? Wax poetic on his many virtues in front of his beloved and whatnot?”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong!” Sirius said, raising his hands in defence. “I like the guy, and any girl should consider herself lucky to have him. It’s just that… Lily.”

“Yeah,” Remus conceded. “I thought she hated him until… well, until now.”

“Exactly my point. But, you know, whatever. Good for her, I’m happy.”

“Good for them,” agreed Remus. “Lily and James. Who could have guessed!”

“Not me.”

“So, is this why you’re here all alone? Your mate abandoned you to spend time with his new girlfriend?”

“He didn’t _abandon_ me. I graciously granted him some time alone with her.”

“So why are you here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sirius asked, and his smile was now one that screamed danger. “It’s because of you.”

“What? Why would you-- Oh.” Remus’s heart started beating fast, throwing all his good intentions about remaining unbothered out the window. So maybe Remus knew how to deal with Sirius, but Sirius never failed to pull a reaction out of him. “Don’t joke with me, it’s not funny.”

“Why would I be joking?” Sirius answered back, looking genuinely offended.

“That’s all you do. Pulling pranks and jesting and making fun of people.”

“Not with you, I’m not joking about you.”

“You always do, though,” Remus retaliated. His tone was calm and annoyed, but his heart still hadn’t stopped hammering in his chest. “Like that time you locked me inside the utility room at school or when you tricked me into thinking that the old chapel was haunted.”

“That was a lifetime ago! How old were we? Eleven? I’m not joking now.”

“So you want me to believe that you’re here, at two in the afternoon, to… what, talk to me?”

“Yes,” Sirius said, and he said it in such a quiet and honest voice that Remus stopped in his tracks.

For another moment, a long one, neither of them spoke. Remus could hear the loud chirping of the crickets coming from everywhere around them—and nothing else. Not a single thing in the square was moving—the houses’ curtains were closed, the children inside, the cats that usually roamed lazily around had found cool places to hide—and time itself looked like it had stopped passing altogether under the heavy cloud of heat and humidity that had fallen on the town. It was only the chirping of those invisible crickets and Remus’s pounding heart. A single drop of sweat ran down along his spine.

“So,” Sirius said. “Do you need help with those books?

“Uhm, I was just going home.”

“Yeah, I can see that. Do you want a ride?”

Remus’s eyes widened. “On that?”

Sirius pat his motorcycle’s seat. “Come on,” he said in a low voice.

Remus took a few steps towards him, tapping erratically on his books. Sirius kept his eyes fixed on his as Remus approached him; his mouth was a tense line halfway between a straight face and a smile. Now that he was closer, and focused on his face, Remus noticed that a few of long, dark strands of hair were wet with sweat and plastered on his temples and cheeks. Other tiny beads were scattered through his forehead and on the portion of his chest left bare by his shirt, proving that he wasn’t as unaffected by the hot weather as he pretended to be. Remus didn’t feel unaffected either.

“Where can I put my books?”

Sirius beamed and bent behind his bike to retrieve a brown, old-looking sack. He pulled out a helmet, laid it down on the seat and then reached out towards him. Remus passed him the books. “Do you always go around with an extra helmet?” he asked.

Sirius shrugged. “You never know who might need a ride home, do you? Here,” he added, throwing the helmet at Remus, who barely caught it.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you give people rides, though.” He actually thought about it while he fastened the helmet’s straps. “No, never.”

“It’s a special treat reserved only for a small élite. Hop on.”

“So now I’m special?” Remus asked with a fake lighthearted voice.

Sirius didn’t answer, and instead got on his motorcycle and held out a hand for Remus to grab. Remus took it and got closer to the bike, just to realise when he tried to get on that he didn’t really know how to do it. Sirius noticed and gave him a soft smile from under his visor.

“Just put your feet there—yes, right there—and then throw your leg on the other side. Come on, Lupin, the gods didn’t give you long legs for nothing: use them.”

Remus followed his instructions in silence, holding his breath, and grabbed Sirius’s shoulders with both his hands to get the leverage he needed to hop on the seat. He landed on it without too many troubles and let out a deep exhale as he settled behind Sirius. He gave an awkward pat on Sirius’s shoulder as a thank you, trying to ignore the feeling of embarrassment in his throat.

“There you go!” Sirius exclaimed. “Not too hard, uh?”

“Why are you doing this?” Remus blurted out, unplanned but sincere.

Sirius shrugged again. “I’m just trying to be kind.”

“I don’t understand you.”

“No,” Sirius said, pulling his helmet on. “I think you do. Now hold on tight.”

Remus did, wrapping his arms around Sirius’s torso, lacing his fingers together on his chest, right above his heart. For a second he thought he could feel it beat just as fast as his own heart was, but then Sirius started the engine and everything was lost in the noise and vibrations of the motorcycle.

“I’m gonna take a bit of a detour. That all right with you?” Sirius yelled over the motor’s rumbles.

Remus nodded against Sirius’s back. He couldn’t see his face, but he knew that Sirius was smirking.

“Let’s get you home, then.”

They took off. It was sudden, and fast, and Remus wasn’t used to travelling this way. He closed his eyes and clung on to Sirius. He felt the wind on his skin, cooling off the sweat and making him wish he was wearing Sirius’s jacket. He opened his eyes to see the houses on the side of the street fly by. They became fewer and fewer as they headed towards the outer part of the village and towards the open countryside. A little much at the beginning, the motorcycle noise was growing on him, not quite a background noise but close enough. The motorcycle gave a little bump as they left the main road for a secondary path, smaller and rougher. Remus snuggled closer to Sirius. The smell of motor oil and fake leather was almost overwhelming, and Remus felt a little drunk on it.

They took another turn. The road was now uphill, fields and tall grass and nothing else on both sides. When they got high enough, Remus turned to look at their village—small, placid, so familiar it almost hurt. He could recognise every building, every street and corner, could point to them and say: “That’s where I went to school, that’s where I fell down and scraped my knee when I was seven, that’s where I was when I met Sirius for the first time.”

They came back way too soon. Sirius had circled the village from the outside and was now driving them towards Remus’s home. He soon saw it, a two-stores brown house with a tiny garden, peeking behind his neighbours’ house.

“There you go,” Sirius said once he’d stopped the motorcycle. He took his helmet off and turned around to smile at Remus. “Home sweet home.”

It was weird, that sting of disappointment in his chest. Remus didn’t like it one bit. He thought about delaying his departure, but there was no reason to do it. He thought about asking Sirius to take him somewhere else, anywhere, and telling him that he’d had fun. That was just ridiculous. So he jumped off the seat.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Don’t forget your books,” Sirius said as a reply and passed him the sack. “It wasn’t that terrible, was it?”

“It was awful,” Remus said. He guessed Sirius didn’t believe him, though, because his smile didn’t falter. He just shrugged and took his sack and helmet back.

“Guess I’ll see you around, Lupin.”

“I guess you will.”

“And, Remus?”

“Yeah?”

“You _are_ special,” Sirius said. “I hope you know that.”

Remus stared at Sirius as he put his helmet back on and drove away. He stared at him until he disappeared behind another house, and kept staring for another minute afterwards. It was always like that with Sirius Black, he thought. Confusing and frustrating and utterly amazing. He turned around and opened the door. He hoped the book he’d purposely left inside the sack would bring Sirius back soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Remember, kids, always wear long trousers and long-sleeve shirts/jackets/whatever when riding a motorcycle, it makes an eventual fall less painful!  
> Thanks for reading if you did and have a wonderful day! :)


End file.
